If the title isn’t enough, then here’s how the rest of this post shall proceed:

I hit 1000 followers on my blog ohmygodahhhhhhhhh!

On Thursday evening, Britton Loves finally hit 1000 followers and I could not be more proud/shocked/happy/overwhelmed by it all. Since starting up my blog again in 2012 there hasn’t been a day gone by where I haven’t loved what I’m doing – yes, there may be some hours during the day where I’m crying over the hardships and loneliness of blogging, breaking down because my post isn’t right, wondering why I’m not as successful or recognised as others, but for the rest of those hours I’m pretty glad I’m here in the industry rather than anywhere else.

What once started as a fashion blog became a beauty blog, and then a lifestyle one, and I think we’ve finally settled on this little corner being a place where I share healthy living and food tips, skincare favourites and lipstick obsession, candles, homeware and the very regular positivity post – so, lifestyle then yes?

I’ve worked hard since the start of the year to produce content on this blog that isn’t seen anywhere else, to give my work that unique and organic spin, and whilst I’ve worn myself out many times over it I would like to think that that’s what has kept all 1000 or so of you here. All I’ve ever wanted is to help others, to share insight and inspire, and to think that 1000 of you might agree is quite…emotional really.

In 2009 I started a YouTube channel called whyamialozenger (because I was really funny back then as you can tell), inspired by charlieissocoollike, tomska, ShayTards and Michelle Phan to make my own videos and yeah, I was pretty nervous of what everyone thought. That fear in turn led me to delete my channel and focus on what I also was told was important at the time – school. Those key years where I had a yearning to be online and doing arty things were taken away from the world of blogging and it wasn’t until I left Sixth Form that I started to get back into it a bit. If I could really blame something for my dismissal of blowing it’s probably, ultimately, myself; I was too focused on one thing, unable to give my all in several areas and with people around you telling you that grades and degrees are most important, well, what are you going to focus on?

As I reached the end of college in 2013, I started to write and share more on my blog (although no one read it, I have no idea who I thought was going to read an unprompted blog) and then when I made the decision to leave my Sunday job and deter from university I threw myself into blogging whilst planning for my future adventures – whatever they were.

Each month I learnt more: I learnt that F4F was the devil and that people will do anything for numbers, that fashion really wasn’t my forte and I didn’t have the patience or clones of myself to create what I wanted, that people you can talk to via comments in the early months can become some of your bestest friends (looking at you Kris), that self-promo and sharing your links on Twitter is absolutely key in making yourself heard, that things such as Twitter chats exist and you can make friends and find new blogs, heck you can even get people to check out your blog! I also learnt that it’s hard work, it’s more than just writing about a lipstick, it’s about planning weekly content, learning to have your own voice and writing style, to have an opinion on things, to pull on all your photography diploma knowledge together and make beautiful images (still learning, never satisfied), to draw on life experience and share it, that your worst side will come out more often because you’re a perfectionist who thinks too much and has to keep changing things, that you can work with your favourite brands by tweeting them and heck you can even win amazing trips to meet amazing people.

Blogging has become my life, my life has become my blog, and now that I have reached this first big milestone, I can only wonder what on Earth is going to happen next. I know that 1000 may not be a lot in comparison to others, but to me, I didn’t know I’d grow this much – both in numbers and as a person. All I can say is thank you; thank you to each of you for clicking follow, thank you for commenting, thank you for coming over to my channel when I started videos again and being lovely, thank you for tweeting me, thank you for being inspired, thank you for sharing my love of positivity, thank you for helping me discover a love of food, thank you for the twitter chats where I’ve made friends I hope I never lose, thank you for the motivation to keep on creating. Thank you, for making blogging the industry it is today.

So as another thank you, I want to treat one of you lovely 1000 followers to something I believe is the best self-indulgent treat there is – a luxury bouquet of flowers, of your choice of course. If you saw my post last Friday I promised you there would be a giveaway so here it is: Appleyard Flowers are kindly offering you one bouquet of your choice from the summer range, and all you have to do is enter the rafflecopter below to win (UK readers only due to deliveries – I’m sorry!). Flowers are a wonderful treat and I hope this makes one of your smile, just as you clicking ‘follow my blog’ has made me smile since 2012.

Whether you’ve been here since 2012, 2013, 2014, or yesterday, thank you to each and every one of you for being here, and I hope that we continue to grow together and experience new things. I’d love to be able to travel with my blog, to attend more events, to work with more people, to build and grow upon my content, and to interact with you all so much more. I hope you can all stick around and here’s a virtual hug for you all *hugs you* because you’re all awesome, I hope you know that.

To the ones who never gave up, to the ones who never gave in, to the ones who pioneered our industry and the ones who are making the waves of change in what we create, I thank you all for making me work harder, and I thank you more for being here with me.

Here’s to the next 1000.

Lots of Love,
Lauren x

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